Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell system including a fuel cell for generating electrical energy by electrochemical reactions of an oxygen-containing gas and a fuel gas, an oxygen-containing gas supply apparatus for supplying the oxygen-containing gas, a fuel gas supply apparatus for supplying the fuel gas, and a control device. Further, the present invention relates to a method of controlling the fuel cell system.
Description of the Related Art
In general, a fuel cell is a system for obtaining direct current electrical energy by electrical chemical reactions of a fuel gas (gas chiefly containing hydrogen such as a hydrogen gas) supplied to an anode of the fuel cell and an oxygen-containing gas (gas chiefly containing oxygen such as air) supplied to a cathode of the fuel cell. This system is used in stationary applications. Further, the system is provided in fuel cell operated electric vehicles for use in in-vehicle applications.
For example, a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell employs an electrolyte membrane. The electrolyte membrane is a polymer ion exchange membrane, and interposed between an anode and a cathode to form a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The membrane electrode assembly and a pair of separators sandwiching the membrane electrode assembly make up a power generation cell for generating electricity. In use, typically, a predetermined number of the power generation cells are stacked together to form a fuel cell stack, e.g., mounted in a vehicle.
In this regard, as a fuel gas supply apparatus for supplying a fuel gas to a fuel cell, a fuel cell system having an injector is adopted. For example, it is known that a technique of this type is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-146675, entitled “FUEL CELL SYSTEM AND ACTUATION METHOD OF INJECTOR”.
This actuation method is applied to a fuel cell system including a fuel cell for generating electrical energy by electrochemical reactions of a fuel gas and an oxygen-containing gas, a pressure regulator valve for regulating the pressure of the fuel gas supplied from a fuel supply source to the fuel cell, and a plurality of injectors for regulating the state of the fuel gas supplied to the fuel cell and having different allowable upper limit values of the fuel pressure, and a pressure sensor for detecting the pressure of the fuel gas between the regulator valve and the injectors.
In a control step of this actuation method, when an instruction for starting operation of the fuel cell system is received, in the case where the pressure of the fuel gas detected by the pressure sensor has a predetermined pressure value or more, at least one of the injectors among injectors having allowable upper limit values equal to or more than the predetermined pressure value is actuated.
According to the disclosure, in this manner, it becomes possible to open the valves of only the injectors that are highly likely to be actuated. Further, it is possible to prohibit actuation of the injectors that cannot be actuated because the allowable upper limit values of the fuel pressure are less than the pressure of the fuel gas.